Tax relief for medical professional (i.e. Royal College) examinations.

The request was successful.

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

I would be grateful if you could release any information you hold on the following:

1) In what circumstances requests by medical practitioners for tax relief for professional examinations should be accepted and the tax-relief applied.

2) Any list of professional examinations that you hold which are approved for tax relief. (Such a list being as distinct from the openly published List 3 of approved Professional Organisations).

By way of example in referring to professional examinations I am referring to component parts of the Membership of the various Medical Royal Colleges. One example would be the Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists which is obtained by completion of a Paper A examination a Paper B examination and a Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC) Examination.

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Wilkes

foi.team@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk on behalf of Mincom & FOI Team Inbox, HM Revenue and Customs

Our ref: FOI2018/02520

Dear Mr Wilkes,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Acknowledgement

Thank you for your communication of 15th November which has been passed to
HMRC's Freedom of Information Team.

We have allocated the above reference which you should quote if you need
to contact us.

The Team will arrange for a reply to be sent to you which will either
comply with HMRC's obligations under Freedom of Information Act or, if we
think it's an enquiry that we don't need to address under the terms of the
Act, let you know why. If it is the latter we will, if possible, pass it
on to a more appropriate part of the Department for answer.

Yours sincerely

HMRC Freedom of Information Act Team

foi.team@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk on behalf of FOI Team, HM Revenue and Customs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Wilkes,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 15th
November.

Yours sincerely,

HMRC Freedom of Information Team

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of HM Revenue and Customs's handling of my FOI request 'Tax relief for medical professional (i.e. Royal College) examinations.' Your reference: FOI2018/02520

HMRC declined my request for "Any list of professional examinations that you hold which are approved for tax relief. (Such a list being as distinct from the openly published List 3 of approved Professional
Organisations)" using the exemption under Section 31 (1) d of the Freedom of Information Act.

The Freedom of Information Team argued that release of this list would "prejudice the assessment or collection of tax." I would agree with the team that there is indeed a strong public interest in the release of information that would help those making genuine claims and cannot accept their counter-argument that this is likely to lead to an increase in fraudulent claims as the grounds for declining to release the requested information. They have offered no evidence for the assertion that fraudulent or incorrect claims would increase were the list released, and such concerns would appear to be mitigated by the advice provided and the explanation that all such assessments are made on an individual basis. It appears that the team have not considered the converse of their argument - that HMRC's interest is in ensuring that people pay the correct amount of tax and that refusing to publish this information may mean that people who could claim tax relief for such matters do not claim and hence overpay. I am disappointed by the reference to tax evasion and avoidance and to honesty in the letter - as these imply that the request is meant to further such dishonest activities when in fact my aim was to seek information to enable people to make appropriate requests for tax relief where this is something to which they are entitled under the referenced case law.

I am requesting a review of the application on the grounds that I do not believe that the test for the qualified exemption under Section 31(1)d of FOIA and consequent withholding of this information are met and consequently that the list which I requested and which HMRC has indicated it holds should be released. I believe that the team have erred in their application of the public interest test and the genuine public interest would significantly outweigh the purported risks outlined.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...

Yours faithfully,

Daniel Wilkes

foi.team@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk on behalf of FOI Team, HM Revenue and Customs

Our ref: IR2018/02681

Dear Mr Wilkes,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Acknowledgement

Thank you for your communication of 5th December which has been passed to
HMRC's Freedom of Information Team.

We have allocated the above reference which you should quote if you need
to contact us.

The Team will arrange for a reply to be sent to you which will either
comply with HMRC's obligations under Freedom of Information Act or, if we
think it's an enquiry that we don't need to address under the terms of the
Act, let you know why. If it is the latter we will, if possible, pass it
on to a more appropriate part of the Department for answer.

Yours sincerely

HMRC Freedom of Information Act Team

foi.team@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk on behalf of FOI Team, HM Revenue and Customs

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Wilkes,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 5th
December.

Yours sincerely,

HMRC Freedom of Information Team